Did you know? Florida is expected to gain a little over 300,000 residents a year, according to estimations from the state’s Demographic Estimating Conference. As as been well documented here and on other sites, many of these residents are permanently moving to the South Florida area from states such as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, and others. Needless to say, this increased demand has driven up the costs of homes. In fact, some South Florida homeowners are cashing in their profits by selling their homes now and moving to northern parts of the state. Moves to Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers, St. Lucie County and more are up 108% this quarter as compared to the same time period last year.
Sell, buy, and save
Many South Floridians are seizing this opportunity to sell their homes at a nice profit and then deciding to move to other less expensive parts of the state. Oftentimes, they are able to buy a larger home elsewhere and still have money left over for savings.
The median sale price for a home in Palm Beach County in March 2021 was $440,000, reflecting an 18% increase over the year before. The median price for a Broward County home was $445,000, which equated to a 14% increase over the same period a year prior.
Interestingly, migration patterns released by the U.S. Census Bureau show that Palm Beach, Broward, & Dade counties had population growth that was lower than the rest of the state. Palm Beach County’s population grew by only 0.65% last year, while Broward had an even smaller increase of 0.13%. Miami Dade County actually had a decrease in population of 0.16%.
Conversely, counties like St. Lucie and Lee grew by 2.79% and 2.4%, respectively. Manatee County grew by 2.05%, Sarasota County by 1.94% and Orange County by 0.65%.
Summary
Overall, The Sunshine State is seeing record numbers of Americans moving in. As for South Florida in particular, we continue to see extremely strong demand from out-of-state buyers. With the recent boom in remote working options, many South Floridians have opted to take the profits from their homes and move either up the east coast or to central or west Florida.
Another factor contributing to the South Florida market is the recruitment of companies such as those in the financial sector. This is resulting in more high-paying jobs and thus driving the demand in the luxury real estate market.
Are you thinking about buying or selling in South Florida? Contact Live South Florida Realty, Inc. for a free consultation.